Why do you choose your respective company (nVidia / ATi)

This is a pole in search for why one would pick ATI over Nvidia or vice versa. I am doing some research on what types of choices people make and why they make them. I would greatly appreciate it if you could submit your vote while making sure it is the best for your situation. Thank you for helping with this research.

Dont see an option for buying whatever most suits the intended use?

I choose whoever makes the best card or whoever makes the best card at the pricepoint im looking at, I dont care for "company loyalty" in the slightest. Im pretty sure Im not alone in this strategy performance \ image quality \ price are far more important considerations than a red or green logo to my mind! Your poll choices seem to based around people only buying for one machine or only ever buying one brand?

Hence I have 8800GTX's in my main gaming rigs where price was not a problem and am looking at a 2600xt for my sons rig where I would prefer to keep things on a budget.

Video cards to me are more like toasters than religions...

nVidia because I am a stock holder.

I have always used ATI in the past because i was a poor teenager and then a poor airman in the air force. Now I'm an NCO and am building a computer for Gutsy (ubuntu 7.1) so this time I'm going Nvidia.

BTY I have never had an ATI card fail but my buddy had 2 in a row fail after mild overclocks.

9500 Pro, still in use by a buddy of mine
X800GT Still in my oldest computer (upgraded from 9500 Pro)
X800XL Still running in my newer build (give you an idea on how old my computers are LOL)

I have not purchased my video card for my linux box yet but I'm leaning toward the MSI 8600GT 512MB DDR3, it's $85.

I've used both cards and I'm currently using a 8800 GTS and also a Radeon 9600XT. But at the end I chose the first option.

There are some games that plays better with cards of either nVidia or ATI.
Like Crysis!
And most of them side nVidia, so I chose nVidia.

That's debatable of late.

Nvidia until the old GeForce ti4400 became outdated
ATi until the 9600XT became outdated

ATi // ASUS - X800 - Overheated / fried (on stock speed and with the stock cooler and a non stock oc cooler on stock clocks.)

Nvidia // ASUS EN7900GS (Works like a charm even today)

Tomorrow my new twin 8800 GTX will arrive ((waited to upgrade to a new computer for a long time and tomorrow it'll finally happen))

Why do I stick with Nvidia now?

2 reasons:

1) Had very very very negative experiences with ATi both the X800 and it's replacement after it overheated and broke down no matter how big the effort to cool them down. (and still get outperformed by NVidia cards.)
2) Nvidia is the king of the market at this point in time.

Regardless of my opinion at this point, the market will remain a tug of war. Sometimes ATi leads and sometimes NVidia leads. When it's time to upgrade to a new rig after the one arriving tomorrow I will reevaluate who's where on the market and make my choice.

For now however it's one more vote for NVidia.

Greetz,

Thurin

None of the above since I go with either one based on price/performance ratio at upgrade time. That is the reason I have/or had 5900xt, 6800vanilla, x800gto, x1900gt, 7900gs, x1950pro and 8800GT the three last ones still in use and the x1900gt just back from RMA with Sapphire hence the 8800GT.

My first ATI card was an EGA Wonder. ('86?). A VGA Wonder followed. I had a Rage card for a while too, I think the one with 8MB on it.
The first PC I got with a specific intent for gaming had a 440MX in it. That was back when I only built business PCs and servers; a cheap boutique actually built that one, but there were dropdowns where you chose the parts. After a couple years, its cheap PSU smoked, taking lots of stuff with it. The replacement I built had a 9200SE in it. Around this time I think I became aware of the whole nVidia vs. ATI debate. I probably would have chosen ATI.
I didn't build anything new for myself for years, but did have to replace another cheap PSU ( ding! ) Then I found THG, and Cleeve's excellent guide, so when I built again I used a 7600GT; another build I did at that time had a 6600GT. It wasn't because they were nVidia, it was because they occupied the recommended slot in the range I could afford. I gave that build away, and then used a 7900GS, for similar reasons.
I'm currently running a 3850, after major disappointments with a 3870. I don't play the most demanding games, so I see no difference between those two, but my wallet does.
Today, if I were going to buy a video card, I'd probably look at the 9600GT, or maybe a more reputable brand of 3870 (e.g. not Diamond). There's better and faster out there, but I just don't need it.

All that to say that I basically agree with dtq as well, but I'd add it's more like a washing machine or refrigerator than a toaster because of the cost.

And none of my builds use less than a tier-3 PSU now; the last one and the one I'm about to build (waiting on the case!) are tier-2.

I choose ATi because I have never had a bad card from them. I can't say that about nVidia, the last nVidia card I owned had a big problem with gaming. I know nVidia has improved greatly since those days but I'm just happy with the quality of ATi cards and at the prices of the higher end cards I just don't want to risk trying nVidia again.

nvidia is just good in everything applications u use. ati is just best for GAMES but not in 3d application. (ex; sketchup, 3d max). if u decide just to play games, buy an ati but if ur want more than games, choose nvidia...
i'm an ex-ati...dun wan to us them anymore... (not mentioning workstation graphic card)

I bought the Radeon 3850 because at the time I thought it has exactly the right budget/performance ratio for me.

When the Radeon 3850 was release I immediately snagged one as early as I could because it was a whole lot faster than the 8600GTS on just a few bucks more.

Where was the option that you buy what the best at the time?

I would have voted, however, I'm leaning toward ATI right now because of their video processing technology. I just bought an ATI 3650 to replace a Nv7600 and the difference in video processing is phenomenal. There's not even a comparison between pictures. The 7600 was grainy and had a very hard time with black and contrast ratios. Any dark scene on any dvd was always pixellated and splotchy. The ATI card is as clean as can be.

T

Edit:
Sorry about the double post. I should also add this is my first ATI card I have ever owned. I've owned several motherboards, my first was a viakt133a, my second was an nforce, nforce2, and i now have 3 nforce 4 boards running. I've had a Geforce (the original), a 6600gt, 7600gs, and now this ATI card. It's great for htpc, it's and upgrade to the 7600gs it replaced, it's silent, it's cool running, and as I said, it whoops on nvidia' pure video in terms of video decoding and output.

I agree. I am seriously Nvidia has something up their sleeves because the rumor mills are spewing that the new ATi card will be truly awesome. Then again, how many promises did AMD make and follow through with in the past year or so?

This thread is asking for it, I'm not even going to say anything, Topics like this lead to non stop venting, I dunno why you would start this.

This is just an argument starter!

Nvidia because they have better cards.

But Truly I'd rather have ATI because i've been with them since the beginning.

You forgot the ruler of all: Price
I go by price/performance ratio and nothing else, I've built and owned both sides of the spectrum(ATI/Nvidia)

Where's the most important answer?

Whomever has the best features & performance for the price I'm willing to pay...

The answers above in the pool only fit people who never buy from any other company, which means they miss out on the best from generation to generation.

I choose Nvidia because their drivers are simple. back in the day I had an Ati card (on board) and it took 20 min just to find the driver, then I had to install it.

Nvidia has always worked for me and so I see no reason to change. out of the 4 nvidia cards I have 3 are running and the 4th still works but is backup.

Also I am an id-software Engine fanboy and well nvidia seem to run Open-GL faster/ better.

like grapeape said, if you stick w/ a given brand regardless of perfromance, you get screwed.

buy the best at the time for your budget, 'nuff said.

game on.

it is true true that the price/performance ratio at a given price point is important. but we choose a particular price point because either it s the money we have right now or it s the money that is the best spent given the performance or both.because future-proofing is as relevant as it is certain. just look at the 8800gtx when it came out or the 9600gt right now. they just have totally different prices. however, we often tend to know the real value of a product after it has become useless. what do you think?

I have owned both brands - I just buy whatever is the best bang for my buck at the time, coloured by what sort of games I am playing / intend to play in the next few months.

i've just had better luck with nVidia, the few Ati cards ive had crapped out on me within a few weeks, but hey if i find one that works i'll use it doesn't matter much to me. (plus the Nvidia numbering is less confusing in my opinion

But those ATI cards weren't made by ATI were they? They were probably made by Powercolor or Sapphire or something.